High Point, NC – Chase Wilson of Zanesville, OH estimates he’s played over 200 rounds at Willow Creek Country Club, host of this week’s Willow Creek Open. He played his college golf just 15 minutes down the road at High Point University, winning three times during his senior year before turning pro last fall. On Wednesday at his old college stomping grounds, Wilson performed beautifully in his eGolf Tour debut, notching five birdies and a late eagle en route to a 6-under 66 and the opening-round lead in the fourth-year event.

Wilson’s week on the classic Willard Byrd design began in slow fashion, with a 60-foot birdie lag on the first and an up-and-down for par at the second masking what would be a round filled with red numbers. The 23-year-old hit his second shot on the par-4 sixth to 3 feet, then two-putted the par-5 seventh for birdie to reach 2-under par, where he would turn after pars at Nos. 8 and 9.

On the back nine, Wilson caught fire early, getting up-and-down for birdie on the par-5 10th and lacing his tee shot on the par-3 11th to 15 feet to set up another birdie that pushed him to 4-under on the day.

The former Panther star moved to 5-under with a birdie on 14, but gave back the shot two holes later with a three-putt bogey at the par-3 16th.

On the 504-yard par-5 17th, Wilson took advantage of his length, knocking a 190-yard 7-iron to 10 feet to set up an eagle that vaulted him up to 6-under par and in the outright lead. From there, a par at the last left him with a 66 in his first career start in an eGolf-sanctioned event.

Andrew Yun

“It was fantastic out there today. I had good vibes coming in this week as Willow Creek was our home course in college. I loved the course,” Wilson said after his round. “It’s an old-school country club. Any time you get a course that you play that much, you’re going to learn to like it when you’re playing well. The greens were fantastic, so it set up great for me.”

Wilson’s senior year at High Point included wins at the Donald Ross Collegiate and the Joe Agee Invitational, eventually giving way to a summer of amateur golf where he finished fourth in the prestigious Ohio Amateur.

After failing to advance through Web.com Tour Q-School, he turned to a number of one- and two-day tournaments in Florida to keep his game sharp. Those events, however, failed to really get him in the flow of tournament golf heading into the summer months.

“This is much harder than it was in college golf,” Wilson said. “You play so many tournaments (in college), especially in the spring, and spend so much time practicing, that you get in a rhythm. Getting rounds under my belt has been tough, but I’m starting to get there. I definitely felt the blood flowing coming down the stretch today.”

For Wilson, the lush green conditions at Willow Creek play in stark contrast to the winter months he spent on the classic layout in college. The overwhelming majority of college golf practice days are spent while the ground is dormant and wet – not in the prime grass growing months of May and June.

“The course looks great, and the new greens were absolutely perfect,” he said. “It’s not freezing like in college in when coach would make us play in 40-degree weather and wind. I could actually feel my hands today!”

Frank Adams III

Frank Adams III of Laurinburg, NC, Sam Beach of Glen Allen, VA, Andrew Yun of Chandler, AZ and Brandon Bunn of Knoxville, TN are tied for second, one shot back of Wilson after matching rounds of 5-under 67.

Adams, 34, was one of the only players in the field to post a bogey-free round on Wednesday, recording birdies on Nos. 6, 9, 10, 12 and 17 for his 67.

The tour’s leading money winner in 2013, Adams opened his season with a missed cut at the Palmetto Hall Championship, but has since played solid golf, notching top-25 finishes in each of his four starts – including a season-best T3 at the NorthStone Open in March. The former East Carolina University golfer finished T113 at Web.com Tour Q-School in December to earn conditional status on the PGA TOUR’s developmental circuit.

Beach opened his week with a bogey at the par-4 first, but played flawlessly thereafter, birdieing Nos. 4, 6 and 7 to turn at 2-under 34 before closing out with a 3-under 33 for his day one 67.

After posting three top-3 finishes during a standout 2013 campaign on the eGolf Tour, Beach has just one top-10 to his name through the early half of the 2014 season – a T7 at the NorthStone Open.

Like Adams, the 25-year-old has conditional Web.com Tour status this year, but has yet to get into any events on his Q-School number. Beach finished tied for 95th at final stage.

Yun, who began Wednesday’s opening round on the back nine at Willow Creek, didn’t make his first par until the par-4 15th after a birdie-bogey-birdie-birdie-birdie start.

After turning at 3-under 33 with a birdie-bogey finish to his opening nine, Yun reached 6-under for the day with birdies on Nos. 1, 3 and 7 before bogeying the par-3 eighth for his 67.

Yun, making his eGolf Tour debut this week (finished T9 at eGolf West’s Avondale Open), was one of the top players in the famed annals of Stanford golf from 2009 through 2013, posting two wins and a career scoring average of 71.5 – third lowest in school history behind only Tiger Woods and Patrick Rodgers. The two-time U.S. Palmer Cup team member was an “All-American” in three of his four years in Palo Alto, including first-team honors in 2011.

The Cardinal star grew up in Tacoma, WA before convincing his parents to move to Arizona for warmer climates that would better suit his emerging golf game. The family sold a number of gas stations and convenience stores they owned in the 25 years since immigrating from South Korea, and bolted to suburban Phoenix to help their son pursue his PGA TOUR dreams.

"It was something I suggested, and it obviously was a very tough decision for my parents," Yun told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2011. "They sacrificed so much for me. They felt like I knew what I was talking about, even though I was 14. They knew it would help my game a lot in the long run."

Yun struggled initially after the move, but the evolved into arguably the third-best player in Stanford golf history, trailing only Woods and Rodgers – who recently was awarded with the prestigious Ben Hogan Award as the game’s top amateur.

The second round of the Willow Creek Open will begin at 7:50 AM on Thursday morning, with players competing in threesomes off of Nos. 1 and 10 tees. Following the conclusion of 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 35 percent and ties for Friday’s final round. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.